Sunday, December 20, 2009

Victory for the 1962 Missal in St Peter's

When the Mass took place for the FIUV conference on the altar of St Pius X in St Peter's, our celebrant, Msgr. Pablo Colino Paulis, had to get a missal from the library next to the sacristy: there was no 1962 Missal in the sacristy. Now this situation has changed, thanks to a letter to the Cardinal Archpriest by a priest of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, Fr Stefano Carusi - a priest who addressed the FUIV conference.(Above: the Mass celebrated by Msgr Colino for FIUV delegates.)

Here is a very hasty summary/translation of a post on the messainlatino blog.

From the moment Pope Benedict XVI allowed priests to celebrate the Old Rite many priests have wished to do so in St Peter's. There has, however, been a practical obstacle in that there were no Old Rite missals in the sacristy.

The large number of missals of varying ages which used to be kept in the sacristy, and which could still be used by visiting priests because of the very minor changes made over the years up until the 1960s, suddenly disapeered in the period after the Council...

Such was the situation. [Fr] Stefano Carusi of the Institute of the Good Shepherd wrote to the Cardinal Archpriest of St Peter's on the great seriousness of the this situation. [Fr Carusi's letter is reproduced on the blog.] The Cardinal Archpriest [Cardinal Comastri] has responded with a very positive gesture, promising that four 1962 Missals will be made available in the sacristy from now on. We thank him for this exemplary gesture, which shows his committment to the extraordinary form.

If every cathedral in the world acted in this way the Pope's intentions would be much more easily fulfilled.

We invite all priests who love the traditional Mass to take advantage of this and not let this precious opporunity pass. Let us all say - 'Introibo ad altare dei'!

Thanks indeed to the Cardinal Archpriest! It was certainly a highly anomolous situation that there should be no Missals relating to the usus antiquior of the Roman Rite in the sacristy of St Peter's; we may hope with the author of the blog post that other cathedrals will follow where St Peter's leads.

2 comments:

It would be interesting to know whether the other liturgical items required for the celebration of the Mass in the usus antiquior are similarly available in the sacristy of St Peter's. I am thinking particularly of altar cards, but communion plates and maniples also come to mind.